The Maker Movement
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The maker movement is a hard market to categorize. It is a market that encompasses a variety of people who embody a convergence of interests, fields, and goals. It encapsulates individuals who wish to create, tinker and share knowledge. In this sense, the term “maker” acts as an umbrella term for a range of personalities, from hobbyists and tinkerers to independent inventors, entrepreneurs and designers.
What Fuels the Maker Movement?
The rise of the maker movement stems from people’s growing interest in engaging with physical objects, the growing integration of technology in their lives, and a growing desire to make things rather than just consuming them (Dougherty, 2012). Two predominate forces will continue to propel this movement. The first is progressively more affordable digital fabrication and digital media tools and software such as 3D printers, 3D scanners, laser cutters, CAD software, video, photography and audio equipment and editing software. These previously expensive industrial tools will continue to become more accessible, affordable and embedded in our digital expressions. Collaboration and innovation fostered by the internet is the second force. Individual makers can now connect with others via the web to share ideas, learn technologies, create their communities, and work on projects together.
What is a Makerspace?
Makerspaces have becomes the brick and mortar realization of the maker movement in that they are learning spaces that provide learners with the access to equipment, educational resources and educators needed to get together to work on projects and learn practical skills from each other.
The main focus of a makerspace is learning and education. A makerspace enables learners to become producers of knowledge, rather than consumers of knowledge. It encourages collaborative, hands-on, project-based, and experiential learning (Wang, et al, 2016). Makerspaces are usually created in community environments, such as a community centres, libraries, businesses, universities or other academic institutions. They can be free-to-use or operate with a for-profit model.
A Growing Market
During the early stages of the maker movement, participants required very little public support. Makerspaces organically emerged as people with similar interests and hobbies sought a place to experiment, tinker and learn. However, in recent years, this mindset has begun to shift, and the considerable growth in the movement has caught the attention of policymakers, educational institutions and educational technology leaders. This interest has manifested itself into curriculums, physical learning spaces, eLearning environments and an abundance of learning technologies and resources.
The evolution of digitization in the K-12 segment is expected to augment the demand for makerspaces (Maida, 2017). Rising government initiatives to help popularize the maker movement across schools, in both advanced and emerging economies, are expected to fuel the growth of the market in the next few years. Furthermore, rising awareness of educational technologies and their integration in the modern education system have led to the emergence of makerspaces in libraries and K-12 and post-secondary schools across the globe.
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The maker movement continues to gain momentum as larger corporations are becoming more involved. For example, General Electric (G.E.) has participated in building “G.E. Garages,” where “makers can come and learn modern ways of prototyping and manufacturing new products using devices like laser cutters and 3D printers (Morin, 2013). YouTube offers several Digital Media makerspaces aimed at providing their content creators (with 10 000 or more followers) with the tools and educational resources needed to create engaging content.
Recently, some established companies started to skim the potential of makerspaces and opened their own internally used makerspaces. In these spaces, the companies’ employees – and, upon invitation external stakeholders like, suppliers, customers or other influencers – are invited to collaboratively work on innovative ideas and projects with the aim to foster the innovation potential of the enterprise (Liotard, 2017). Examples of companies which have company makerspaces include Airbus, Ford Motor Company, Renault, Stanley and Black & Decker (Lô & Diochon, 2018; Moshouris et al., 2017).
Furthermore, a number of cities are envisioning a connection between the maker movement and local manufacturing growth. (How Cities Can Grow the Maker Movement: Report) provides several examples of cities who have donated unused public buildings for new workspaces or offered low-interest loans, direct funding or rent-ceiling guarantees to maker innovators. For many of these cities, these policies are part of a larger economic revitalization plan. Strategically grouping makerspaces and entrepreneurial services side-by-side is a potential option for municipalities hoping to encourage innovative local growth. (How Cities Can Grow the Maker Movement: Report).
Identifying Pain Points
Lack of Support
An explosion of interest in the maker movement and makerspaces have revibrated across many educational institutions. Often, funds and space are allocated for makerspaces, but not personnel. For many, administrative support from their institution ends at the approval of an equipment list or allocation of a room.
Unfortunately, this leaves educators, librarians, community leaders, volunteers and learners themselves scrambling to deploy a successful makerspace without the expertise or technical support needed to run and maintain such a dynamic, technology-centric space.
Currently Available Solutions
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Current makerspace management solutions revolve around booking management and fee collection for for-profit setups. Although robust in their own right, the following examples of makerspace supporting Apps falls short of catering to the educational sector. They do not address any of the educational, troubleshooting, and social needs that a modern socially constructivist learning makerspace may have.
Predominately a user management system, Fabman offers some training management, but is specifically support staff facing with little user interface.
Focused on coworking spaces, smpl provides granular booking processes, but does not have much along the way of dedicated makerspace support. Smpl has been recently purchased by Proximity
With a focus on online quoting, invoicing, and their client portal, MakeOS would be more at home at a 3D print house then it would in a learner-focused makerspace.
